Other Links

Twins Minor League Report (4/19): Turley Flirts With No-No

One Twins minor league pitcher had fans wondering if they were going to see a no-hitter. A couple of the Twins top pitching prospects were on the mound on Wednesday, Jose Berrios for Rochester and Fernando Romero for Chattanooga. The Miracle bats exploded, something they really needed. The Kernels played a get-away game before heading home for a homestand.

Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily (photo of Nik Turley)

There was some #PalkaPower and #GarvSauce. One prospect launched two home runs to power his team to a win. Another prospect finished just shy of the cycle. Be sure to continue reading to find out everything that happened in the Minnesota Twins minor league system on Wednesday.

INJURY UPDATE - Before we get started, we want to wish a speedy recovery to Miracle second baseman Luis Arraez. The Venezuelan was in Minneapolis on Wednesday and had knee surgery. Arraez tore his ACL running and tripping over first base about ten days ago. He will miss the entire season.

With two on and two outs, the Red Wings down 5-4 in the top of the ninth inning, JB Shuck hit a triple to score two and give the Red Wings the lead. Alex Wimmers came in to close the game, but after getting the first out, he walked the next three batters before giving up a two-run single to end the game. Tough loss for the Red Wings.

Jose Berrios was on the mound to start for the Red Wings. He came in having thrown 14 innings without giving up an earned run. On Wednesday night, he was charged with four runs (three earned) on five hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out five. 65 of his 97 pitches were strikes.

Alan Busenitz came on in relief. The Georgia native, and Kennesaw State alum, gave up one run on one hit and two walks in 1.1 innings. He struck out two. Buddy Boshers came on and gave up a hit before getting the final two outs of the seventh inning. Raul Fernandez pitched a scoreless eighth inning.Mitch Garver got the Red Wings on the board with a line drive over the left field wall for his first home run of the season. Daniel Palka added his fifth home run and later drove in a second run with a single. Tommy Field and Leonardo Reginnato each had two hits as well.

These two teams completed two innings on Tuesday night. Matt Tracy had thrown two scoreless innings as had his counterpart Jorge Lopez. When the game continued on Wednesday afternoon, Fernando Romero took the mound. He was much better than in his first two starts. The right-hander threw 5.2 innings. He gave up one run on six hits. He walked one and struck out four.

John Curtiss came on with two on and two out in the top of the eighth inning. He got a strikeout to end the Shuckers threat. He gave up one hit in a scoreless ninth inning to record his first save of the season and give Romero his first win.

It was a two-man show in this game for the Lookouts. Nick Gordon had a single, his first double and his first triple of the season. He is now hitting .341. LaMonte Wade was pushed to AA this year after spending an injury-plagued second half of the season in Ft. Myers. He came into the game with just three hits in his first 29 at-bats (.103), he had two hits in this game including two very long home runs. Edgar Corcino added his second double of the year.

Nik Turley came into this game having pitched twice out of the Lookouts bullpen. In his 8.1 innings, he had 18 strikeouts. With the suspended game throwing off the schedule, he made his first start of the season in the regularly-scheduled game. While his strikeout rate dropped, Turley pitched quite well. In fact, he left the game after five innings of no-hit baseball. He walked three and struck out four. Turley left the game with 76 pitches, his most of the season.

The bullpen was not able to hold the three-run lead, and the no-hitter was broken up one batter after Turley left. Ryan Eades came on to start the sixth. He gave up four runs on five hits in the inning. Luke Bard got the seventh. He gave up three runs on four hits and a walk though he did strike out two.

Engelb Vielma got the Lookouts off to an early lead. His two-run double gave the team a 2-0 lead. He was 2-4. Jose Gonzalez went 2-3. Levi Michael, making a start in center field, added his first double of the season.

The Miracle offense broke out on Wednesday night. They scored ten runs on 13 hits in the game. They were also helped by six walks. Alex Perez led the way with a 3-5 night, pushing his average to .352. Daniel Kihle went 2-3 with a walk and his fourth double. Sean Miller had two hits. Kevin Garcia had two hits, each of which drove in a run. Trey Vavra went 1-3 with two walks. Chris Paul hit his fourth double, and Max Murphy added his second two-bagger.

Cody Stashak made the start. He gave up two runs on four hits, two walks and a hit batter in four innings. He struck out seven. However, he was approaching 90 pitches, so his night was over. He was replaced by Brady Anderson, the Florida Gulf Coast U grad from Ft. Myers who was called up to the Miracle last week. He gave up one run over the next three innings. He struck out four without walking a batter. Sam Clay worked the final two innings without giving up a run.

It was a getaway game for the Kernels, their final game in Peoria before heading back to Cedar Rapids to start a homestand. It’s probably fair to say that the Kernels just wanted to get away as it was not a great performance by the pitchers or the defense.

Eddie Del Rosario got the start and went just two innings. He was charged with five earned runs on eight hits and two walks. Hector Lujan came on and worked two innings. He was charged with six runs, though just two were earned, on five hits. Max Cordy got the next two innings, and he was charged with two earned runs on five hits and two walks in two innings. Alex Robinson pitched the 7th inning and gave up two runs on three hits and a walk.

At that point, the day’s starting catcher, Caleb Hamilton, came to the mound. He walked one and struck out two in a scoreless - that’s right, scoreless - inning.

The Kernels scored three runs on seven hits. Jermaine Palacios led the way with a 2-4 day. He had an RBI. Lewin Diaz and Aaron Whitefield each added a double. It was Diaz’s fourth and Whitefield’s third.

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Nik Turley, Chattanooga LookoutsTwins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – LaMonte Wade, Chattanooga Lookouts

LaMonte Wade is doing just fine. His K and BB rates are very good so far, showing his plate discipline is for real even at AA. He's just been unlucky with an extremely low BABIP. Look for his numbers to shoot up in the next few weeks. I honestly think he's a potential third or fourth outfielder in mid-2018 and beyond.

Knee surgery for Vielma? That's really too bad. Do we know what kind of surgery and what his timetable looks like?

I just updated the Arraez injury portion of today's article. I found out this morning that it was a torn ACL, and he is expected to miss the entire season. Unfortunate for any minor leaguer, but especially a guy coming off such a tremendous year and starting well for the Miracle.

Sam Clay has a comically high ERA because of that first outing where he gave up 6 earned runs in two thirds of an inning. Since then he has been the pitcher from A ball last year. He's already 24 years old and a bullpen guy. I always wonder what kind of a future a guy like that has.

And you could say something similar for a lot of these guys. Just got to watch 'em.

I just updated the Arraez injury portion of today's article. I found out this morning that it was a torn ACL, and he is expected to miss the entire season. Unfortunate for any minor leaguer, but especially a guy coming off such a tremendous year and starting well for the Miracle.

Sam Clay has a comically high ERA because of that first outing where he gave up 6 earned runs in two thirds of an inning. Since then he has been the pitcher from A ball last year. He's already 24 years old and a bullpen guy. I always wonder what kind of a future a guy like that has.

And you could say something similar for a lot of these guys. Just got to watch 'em.

They gave him a chance to start because of his pitch mix. It didn't go terribly well (though he did start the MWL All Star game last year)... He's moving back to the bullpen, and the hope is that he can add the velocity back. But he especially needs to throw more strikes. He could keep moving up. But the Twins have a bunch of high-ceiling left relievers ahead of him too, so that all factors in.

John Curtiss is a legit bullpen prospect, he should be rising up Twins prospect rankings.

Yeah, he is another that had a one-year shot at starting, which he did before his TJ surgery in college. Once he moved to the bullpen, he took off. He touches 97, sits 94-95. He has good other stuff too. He moved up mine, but yes, I think he's legit, and I think the Twins do too.